Town Council will have a public hearing on January 19 regarding a change in the Town's Zoning Ordinance so that fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and gas stations will require a Special Exception.
Most of the Town's commercial district is on Folly Road, and the Folly Road overlay already requires a special exception for a fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and gas stations. This means that those wanting to open those businesses must ask the Town's Board of Zoning Appeals for a special exception. The BZA can deny the request or it can allow it with conditions. These conditions can include limited hours, restrictions on lighting, and extra buffers to protect neighboring homeowners. This change will make the zoning for the rest of our commercial districts the same. That is primarily the area near Camp and Dills Bluff, where Town Hall is located, but there is also commercially zoned property near Harborview Road and Fort Johnson Road.
I think putting this restriction in the Folly Road Overlay District was a mistake so I don't favor extending it to other areas. I do not favor giving the BZA discretion to prohibit types of businesses so that they can in reality impose ad-hoc restrictions on them.
I understand that 24 hour operations can cause problems for neighboring homeowners. There are probably other characteristics of these businesses that are problematic. I would rather that any special exception relate to these specific problems and to a location near residences. (However, here on James Island, nearly all commercial properties are very near residential properties, so such a requirement is a bit redundant.)
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